A GOOD APPETITE; Inspiration Can Come in a Can

By MELISSA CLARK

Published: June 11, 2008

IT all started with the super-size bag of dried organic chickpeas my husband, Daniel, brought home last December.

Being a diehard fan of the canned kind, I was suspect.

''I read somewhere that dried chickpeas make the creamiest hummus,'' he said, elaborating his plan for soaking, boiling and finally peeling each pea to make the dip. ''You do it by hand. That's the real thing!''

''So what are you going to do with the other seven-eighths of the bag?'' I asked.

''I don't know,'' he replied absently. ''Homemade falafel?''

Six months and many batches of (canned chickpea) hummus later, the bag remained untouched.

I might have forgotten about the chickpeas if Daniel's offhand falafel remark hadn't stuck in my mind. More than once, I had contemplated whipping up a batch. But the recipe requires soaking the chickpeas for 24 hours before grinding them, uncooked, in the food processor, and I never seemed to think of it when my stomach wasn't growling.

Eventually, I decided to try a recipe I found online for falafel using my beloved canned garbanzos, bound with a bit of flour.

The batter, seasoned with cumin, garlic and parsley, was delightful when I sampled a tiny bit raw, but once it hit the oil, my carefully formed orbs disintegrated into crumbs.

We ordered takeout falafel that night.

You'd think this failed experiment would either turn me off homemade falafel or inspire me to soak those stone-like peas ahead of time. But in fact it did neither.

Instead, I became obsessed with the idea of making homemade falafel with canned chickpeas that didn't require any advance planning, but didn't fall apart in a pan of steaming oil.

I scoured my cookbooks and the internet for recipes, and discovered that having too much liquid and not enough binder in the mix had been my problem. Potential solutions included mixing in bulgur, breadcrumbs, even eggs to hold the sticky mass together.

All of those ideas sounded plausible but none piqued my interest. If I was going to muck with a falafel recipe, I at least wanted to add something that would have a little of its own personality. Breadcrumbs simply wouldn't cut it.

Thinking about what I like so much about falafel, I realized that it wasn't gobbling them stuffed into a pita drowned in tahini, hot sauce, tomatoes and pickled peppers. I preferred eating them like finger food, dipping the balls into a savory, garlicky sauce and nibbling on the crunchy edges.

In form, my favorite takeout falafel reminds me of meatballs, albeit the vegetarian version. So what if I made the balls meaty, adding ground lamb along with the canned chickpeas and spices?

A few days later, I tried it out, mixing ground lamb and mashed canned chickpeas with the usual falafel seasonings of garlic, cumin, coriander and herbs. Then I pan-fried them until they were crisp.

They were denser than real falafel, but richer, with a pronounced fresh green taste from the cilantro and parsley and a dusky fragrance from the ground spices.

I planned to serve the lamb balls with a garlicky tahini dipping sauce. But I had half a can of chickpeas left over from my faux falafel, so I threw them into the food processor, too. The result was thinner, silkier and more pungent than hummus, and perfect for slathering on almost anything, especially lamb meatballs.

Daniel and I had the lamb meatballs for dinner, but when I breezily referred to them as falafel, he gave me a look.

''These are exquisite,'' he said, ''but they're not falafel. For real falafel we need dried chickpeas. Say, why don't we get some?''

1. To make the sauce, combine ingredients in a food processor. With motor on ''pur?'' add 1/2 to 3/4 cup water through feed tube until mixture is smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Sauce should be thinner than hummus.

2. For the balls, in a large bowl, mash 1/2 cup chickpeas with a potato masher or fork. Add remaining ingredients and mix well with your hands or a wooden spoon. Form into 1 1/4-inch balls.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook balls in batches, turning occasionally until golden brown all over and just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Serve immediately, with sauce on the side.

1. To make the sauce, combine ingredients in a food processor. With motor on ''pur?'' add 1/2 to 3/4 cup water through feed tube until mixture is smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Sauce should be thinner than hummus.

2. For the balls, in a large bowl, mash 1/2 cup chickpeas with a potato masher or fork. Add remaining ingredients and mix well with your hands or a wooden spoon. Form into 1 1/4-inch balls.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook balls in batches, turning occasionally until golden brown all over and just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Serve immediately, with sauce on the side.

Yield: 3 to 4 servings.

PHOTO: HOLD THE PITA: Lamb meatballs with chickpeas are perfect finger food, ready to dip into a smooth tahini sauce. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW SCRIVANI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)